Hello Everyone!

[LibertyDefender]

Hello Everyone,

     I justjoined FDR yesterday, and am very excited to be a part of the community. Idiscovered Mr. Molyneux through YouTube while following videos of the economistDoug Casey. I am someone fascinated by economic theory and practice, but as aHistory major, I have a special place in my heart for the study of social and politicalinteractions and the wondrous or cataclysmic results that follow. After working in a pseudo blue collarjob for nearly three years, I went back to school for a Master's degree and nowwork in a professional environment.     Not that I don't find watchingconsecutive Peter Schiff and Doug Casey videos endlessly informative and at timesamusing; but I was glad to discover someone focused on the philosophical sideof the libertarian debate. Mr. Molyneux's videos provided much needed brainfuel on a recent extended business trip. I am an admitted minarchist, a sin Iam neither proud nor ashamed of at this point in my personal evolution; I amsure members of this forum will help entrench or sway me from this position.     To sumup this very brief introduction, my interests include: the study of economics,the nuances of history, libertarianism, precious metals trading, building computers,virtually any board game, and poker. The list is much longer, but even awell-punctuated sentence gives the appearance of a run on after four commas.This is a syntactical phenomenon the English language has yet to correct.Still, if you wish to discuss these or anything else, do not hesitate tocontact me! I am so excited to be here! Thanks everyone!

Sincerely,Phil

[Jeffrey Slater]

Welcome Phil

As a minarchist, what parts of government do you find necessary and how did you reach that conclusion?  

On a lighter note, what is your favorite board game? (I am an avid collector).

[Guest darkskyabove]

Welcome!

Editorial note: all that stuff at the bottom of your post is caused by pasting from a word processor. Happened to me, too, until I realized what was happening. One way to avoid it is to compose with a simple text editor (Notepad if you use WinDoze). If you use Word, you can try the paste from Word feature next to the HTML above the smilie (clipboard w/ blue W). I can't vouch for it as I use LibreOffice on Linux and it doesn't work right. What I do is paste my material into the forum text editor, then click on the blue "HTML" above and to the right of the smilie. This is the HTML source which you can scan to find where the formatting junk is located. You could edit out the extra formatting if your comfortable with the tags, or, go back into the text editor and click your cursor in at the point where the format stuff is and hit the delete key until the cursor jumps.

 

[LibertyDefender]

I believe the only functions the state should serve are the administration of a justice system, and the administration (although not necessarily the equipping nor logistics) of a military. Most of it is just historical/tradition. It is what I am used to and hence what I am comfortable with. As a former historian, I found examples of limited government serving in this or a similar fashion which I found palatable. As for a more rational response, I think that all people deserve equal treatment for crimes and should be afforded the same protection of their property. For the military, democracy would offer the most level playing field for equal protection of assets, assuming such a force is not used for aggression. As for the justice system, democratically elected leaders who act as arbiters and do so professionally either without pay or through blind compensation interest me more than competitively selected judges. It isn't that te free market cannot or won't establish fair arbiters, I am just personally convinced that more frequently the aforementioned system would provide for equal justice. That being said, an actual scientific study of this would be interesting. I am typing this on my phone and finding it increasingly difficult, so perhaps I will expand on this later. But first, allow me to answer your second question: My favorite board game is either Dungeon Lords or Space Empires. However, I play dozens of board games, including: Gears of War, Ascending Empires, Shogun, Settlers (nearly all variants), Axis & Allies (again, nearly all variants), Mage Knight, Descent, Space Hulk, Betrayal at the House on the Hill, Battle Lore and Diplomacy. If you play any of those and want to discuss I would love to. Also, if you have any good suggestions for me I would be open to listening. 

[Jeffrey Slater]

I'm not really the best equipped to make the anarchist / voluntarist case for no government, so I will just ask if you have watched any of the stuff that Stefan has put out about the DRO model?  It seems to me that if there is a way to do justice and defense without resorting to using force, then we are obligated to use said system on an ethical grounds, no matter how inefficient it is.

As for games, I have played a few of the ones you mentioned.  I love Settlers, and have also played Axis & Allies.  Betrayal at the House on the Hill is one of my favorite Halloween games as well.  I have been playing a pretty wide array of games lately, and the ones I would recommend would be Alhambra, Dominion, Dixit, Hive, 7 Wonders, and Power Grid.  I have a boardgamegeek account, which has a listing of all the games I own- all of which I would recommend (username is jcs09 - http://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/jcs09?own=1&subtype=boardgame&ff=1).  I mentioned the ones above because they seem like they would suit your tastes in games- they have less casual mechanics and are good for people who have been gaming a while.

[LibertyDefender]

No, as new as I am I have not watched any of his DRO model lectures. I will have to check them out this weekend. As for BoardGameGeek, I am familiar with the site and check it regularly for reviews, but do not have an account. May have to look into that.